Military ranks

“Bey” (Ottoman Turkish: بك‎ “Beik”, Albanian: bej, Bosnian: beg, Arabic: بيه‎ “Beyeh”, Persian: بیگ‎ “Beyg” or بگ “Beg”) is a Turkish title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders or rulers of various sized areas in the Ottoman Empire. The feminine equivalent title was Begum. The regions or provinces where "beys" ruled or which they administered were called beylik, roughly meaning "khanate", "emirate" or "principality" in the first case and "province" or "governorate" in the second (the equivalent of duchy in other parts of Europe).

An emir (Arabic: أمير‎ ʾamīr ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is an aristocratic or noble and military title of high office used in a variety of places in the Arab countries, West Africa, and Afghanistan. It means "commander", "general", or "High King". The feminine form is emira (أميرة ʾamīrah). When translated as "prince", the word "emirate" is analogous to a sovereign principality.

Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. Within NATO, each member nation's corresponding military rank of corporal is combined under the NATO-standard rank scale code OR-3 or OR-4. However, there are often differences in how each nation (or service in each nation) employs corporals. Some militaries don't have corporals, but may instead have a Junior Sergeant.

A private is a soldier of the lowest military rank (equivalent to NATO Rank Grades OR-1 to OR-3 depending on the force served in).

A commander-in-chief, also called supreme commander, is the person that exercises supreme command and control over an armed forces or a military branch. As a technical term, it refers to military competencies that reside in a country's executive leadership – a head of state or a head of government.

Brigadier general (Brig. Gen.) or brigade general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000 troops (four battalions). In some countries a brigadier general is informally designated as a one-star general (OF-6).

Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a lieutenant general outranking a major general and a major outranking a lieutenant.

An officer is a member of an armed forces or uniformed service who holds a position of authority.

Günter Friedrich Weiler (born 27 April 1951 in Duisburg, West Germany) is a retired Lieutenant General of the German Army, the Bundeswehr. From 16 September 2010 until 9 April 2013, he was the Deputy Inspector General of the Bundeswehr.

Magister militum (Latin for "Master of Soldiers", plural magistri militum) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the emperor remaining the supreme commander) of the Empire. In Greek sources, the term is translated either as strategos or as stratelates.